§ 24-4.5-5-203 — Civil liability for violation of disclosure provisions

Indiana § 24-4.5-5-203

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 4.5: UNIFORM CONSUMER CREDIT CODE
• Ch. 5: Remedies and Penalties

Text

Civil Liability for Violation of Disclosure
Provisions — (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a
creditor who, in violation of the provisions on disclosure (Part 3) in IC 24-4.5-2 and IC 24-4.5-3, fails to disclose information to a person
entitled to the information under this article is liable to that person in
an amount equal to the sum of:
(a) the following:
(1) in the case of an individual action, twice the amount of the
credit service or loan finance charge in connection with the
transaction, but the liability pursuant to this subdivision shall be
not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one
thousand dollars ($1,000); or
(2) in the case of a class action, an amount the court allows,
except that as to each member of the class no minimum recovery
is applicable, and the total recovery under this subdivision in any
class action or series of class actions arising out of the same
failure to comply by the same creditor may not be more than the
lesser of:
(i) five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000); or
(ii) one percent (1%) of the net worth of the creditor; and
(b) in the case of a successful action to enforce the liability under
paragraph (a), the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney's
fees as determined by the court. In determining the amount of the
award in a class action, the court shall consider, among other relevant
factors, the amount of any award granted under the Consumer Credit
Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), the frequency and persistence
of failures of compliance by the creditor, the resources of the creditor,
the number of persons adversely affected, and the extent to which the
creditor's failure of compliance was intentional.
(2) A creditor has no liability under this section if within sixty (60)
days after discovering an error, and prior to the institution of an action
under this section or the receipt of written notice of the error, the
creditor notifies the person concerned of the error and makes whatever
adjustments in the appropriate account are necessary to assure that the
person will not be required to pay a credit service charge or loan
finance charge in excess of the amount or percentage rate actually
disclosed.
(3) A creditor may not be held liable in any action brought under
this section for a violation of this article if the creditor shows by a
preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and
resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of
procedures reasonably adapted to avoid the error.
(4) If there are multiple obligors in a consumer credit transaction or
consumer lease, there may not be more than one (1) recovery of
damages under subdivision (a)(1) for one (1) violation of this article
with respect to that consumer credit transaction or consumer lease.
(5) The multiple failure to disclose to any person any information
required under this article to be disclosed in connection with a single
account under an open end consumer credit plan, a single consumer
credit sale, a consumer loan, a consumer lease, or another extension of
consumer credit entitles that person to a single recovery under this
section. However, continued failure to disclose after a recovery has
been granted gives rise to rights to additional recoveries.
(6) Any action which may be brought under this section against the
original creditor in any credit transaction involving a security interest
in land may be maintained against any subsequent assignee of the
original creditor where the assignee, its subsidiaries, or affiliates were
in a continuing business relationship with the original creditor either at
the time the credit was extended or at the time of the assignment,
unless the assignment was involuntary, or the assignee shows by a
preponderance of evidence that it did not have reasonable grounds to
believe that the original creditor was engaged in violations of this
article, and that it maintained procedures reasonably adapted to apprise
it of the existence of the violations.
(7) No action pursuant to this section may be brought more than one
(1) year after the date of the occurrence of the violations.
(8) In this section, creditor includes a person who in the ordinary
course of business regularly extends or arranges for the extension of
credit, or offers to arrange for the extension of credit.
Formerly: Acts 1971, P.L.366, SEC.6. As amended by
P.L.181-1991, SEC.5; P.L.159-2017, SEC.16.